Viewing the 'Spending Journal' Category

Payday Report for 7/24/20

July 24th, 2020 at 11:05 pm

My Google AdSense Payment hit this week so I combined that with DH's pay and upped the tithe accordingly. I also had some money left in the checking account. No money went into the EF this time as we replaced some items and upgraded others that I was holding off on when we were still in debt and DH needed new boots.

We also got take out more than we should have as I tripped over a floor fan and banged myself into the bedroom door and then as I stumbled forward got my other side on the door jamb. Not fun. I am doing better today, but the last week was really rough. I am still pretty stiff and sore when I wake up, but at least I can dress myself again and walk around without my cane.

I did not spend all of the grocery money from last payday, though, so that went into a new fund, the Freezer Fund. So that envelope was started with $179. I want to get a good freezer, not from Lowe's or Home Depot, so we will have to go to the actual appliance store and price what I want, which is a freezer with a temperature display on the outside and that beeps if the door is open too long. Frost free would be nice as well.

Here's how the paycheck broke down today.

$328.70 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
__75.00 Household Envelope
_500.00 Medical Fund
1608.60 Citi
__71.99 Life Insurance DH
__60.46 Life Insurance Me
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
-------------
3364.75 Total Money Out

Posted in Spending Journal, Paying the Bills, Organize My Life, Medical Issues and Spending, Is Budget a Four Letter Word?, Gazelles in Envelopes | 3 Comments »

The Dentist is Up and Running

July 15th, 2020 at 04:42 am

0I went to the dentist today. The hygienist had on a face mask and a face shield and two pairs of gloves. Everyone else in the office wore masks and when the dentist himself came in he also had the same get up as the hygienist. They had a blast shield installed at reception. Such is life in the new world. It felt really good to have my teeth cleaned. It has been since September. I was due in March but of course that was cancelled because of Covid. My teeth were in great condition and nothing is wrong with them except the chip that I will finally be able to get fixed at the end of August. That was also due to be fixed in March. I take excellent care of my teeth. It took a lot for me to bring them back from my early adulthood issues, but they have been great for the last several years. DH went on Friday and the fees so far were $78.80 twice. We don't have the best dental insurance, but someone would have to get at least two crowns in a year to make the more expensive insurance worth it, even if the money does come out pretax, we'd still have to pay half. Better to have the cheaper insurance and pay full if someone needs a crown, which DH does need one. Both kids are scheduled later in the month for their appointments. I am hoping things are fine with them, too. I am sure they will be with my daughter, not so sure with my son. DH did do his eye exam, but we are waiting on next payday when there is more money in the medical fund for him to get his glasses. He will need both lenses and frames. I see the eye doctor in September for my retinal testing and for a new prescription. I have not made appointments for the kids yet, but they will both need them. And DD will need to start the retinal screening as well since she is on the same medication as me now that can, in a small percent of cases, turn your retinas yellow. So far so good with me. DD will need new frames and lenses, DS and I will only need new lenses. We each have previous frames that are in good condition that we like and since the insurance only pays for frames every two years, but lenses every year, that is what we go with. I will be able to use my current frames again in the future as well, which is great because I really like them, too. That will cut costs somewhat. The next thing I really need to do is get a hair cut. I need to cut off about 8 inches of hair and thin it out. My hair grows so fast, about an inch a month and it is getting so long that when I raise my arms and then put them back down it gets caught in my armpits. I hate that. That and when I accidentally lean on my hair when trying to get out of bed. I am debating on getting a short layered cut or just a sort of bob thing that flips up on the ends instead of going under. Whatever I get, I want it to be low maintenance. I hate fussing with my hair. But I also want it to be something that will grow out decently if we get locked down again. I've decided not to color it professionally. I just don't want to have roots in six weeks and have to keep doing it. I've been out of that race for years now. I like my grey streaks. And I can always change my mind later since it will be much shorter and a lot easier to color at home than it would be with my current length. I really just need to see what color and how much grey is left when it is short before I make that decision and live with it for a while. Plus if I do do it myself I will only need one box and not two after the cut. We'll see. I am so wishy washy about this. asdf123

I went to the dentist today. The hygienist had on a face mask and a face shield and two pairs of gloves. Everyone else in the office wore masks and when the dentist himself came in he also had the same get up as the hygienist. They had a blast shield installed at reception. Such is life in the new world.

It felt really good to have my teeth cleaned. It has been since September. I was due in March but of course that was cancelled because of Covid. My teeth were in great condition and nothing is wrong with them except the chip that I will finally be able to get fixed at the end of August. That was also due to be fixed in March. I take excellent care of my teeth. It took a lot for me to bring them back from my early adulthood issues, but they have been great for the last several years.

DH went on Friday and the fees so far were $78.80 twice. We don't have the best dental insurance, but someone would have to get at least two crowns in a year to make the more expensive insurance worth it, even if the money does come out pretax, we'd still have to pay half. Better to have the cheaper insurance and pay full if someone needs a crown, which DH does need one.

Both kids are scheduled later in the month for their appointments. I am hoping things are fine with them, too. I am sure they will be with my daughter, not so sure with my son.

DH did do his eye exam, but we are waiting on next payday when there is more money in the medical fund for him to get his glasses. He will need both lenses and frames. I see the eye doctor in September for my retinal testing and for a new prescription. I have not made appointments for the kids yet, but they will both need them. And DD will need to start the retinal screening as well since she is on the same medication as me now that can, in a small percent of cases, turn your retinas yellow. So far so good with me.

DD will need new frames and lenses, DS and I will only need new lenses. We each have previous frames that are in good condition that we like and since the insurance only pays for frames every two years, but lenses every year, that is what we go with. I will be able to use my current frames again in the future as well, which is great because I really like them, too. That will cut costs somewhat.

The next thing I really need to do is get a hair cut. I need to cut off about 8 inches of hair and thin it out. My hair grows so fast, about an inch a month and it is getting so long that when I raise my arms and then put them back down it gets caught in my armpits. I hate that. That and when I accidentally lean on my hair when trying to get out of bed.

I am debating on getting a short layered cut or just a sort of bob thing that flips up on the ends instead of going under. Whatever I get, I want it to be low maintenance. I hate fussing with my hair. But I also want it to be something that will grow out decently if we get locked down again. I've decided not to color it professionally. I just don't want to have roots in six weeks and have to keep doing it. I've been out of that race for years now. I like my grey streaks.

And I can always change my mind later since it will be much shorter and a lot easier to color at home than it would be with my current length. I really just need to see what color and how much grey is left when it is short before I make that decision and live with it for a while. Plus if I do do it myself I will only need one box and not two after the cut. We'll see. I am so wishy washy about this.

Posted in Spending Journal, Medical Issues and Spending | 1 Comments »

Payday Report for 7/10/20

July 15th, 2020 at 03:35 am

Friday was a normal payday for us, no overtime. I have started contributing to the medical fund again because we have dental and glasses to pay for and it was getting really low. After those things are paid for I need to start thinking about saving for next year's deductible. So that may end up being a priority over the Emergency Fund. All it takes is one ER visit in January and we get slammed with almost the full deductible in one go. Since January ER visits have happened the last three years running, it is best to just plan for it.

$318.52 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
_115.17 Internet
_280.00 Monthly Chiropractic Family Plan
_36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
_800.00 DS's Driving Lessons
-------------
3144.69 Total Money Out

I also have enough money set aside for DS to renew his driving permit, but that wasn't budgeted for, I just knew I had extra in the checking account that could go for it.

Posted in Spending Journal, Paying the Bills, Is Budget a Four Letter Word?, Gazelles in Envelopes | 0 Comments »

Payday Report for 7/26/20

July 1st, 2020 at 11:51 pm

I had a major fibromyalgia flare when we got back from Seattle followed by a cold I'm pretty sure I caught at the hospital, so I haven't been updating anything for a while. I still feel a little cruddy, but at least I am now upright. We are still on a wait and see with DD's tumor. We get another scan in 6 months. As for payday, there were a few hours of overtime on it, and here's what we did.

$337.18 Tithe
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
1000.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Envelope
_753.08 Citi
__71.99 Life Insurance DH
__60.46 Life Insurance Me
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
_100.00 Car Insurance Fund
_150.00 Gift/Christmas Fund
_100.00 Clothing Fund
_100.00 Laptop Fund
----------------
3367.71 Total Money Out

Posted in Spending Journal, Paying the Bills, Organize My Life, Medical Issues and Spending, Is Budget a Four Letter Word?, Laptop Fund, Gazelles in Envelopes | 0 Comments »

Payday Report for 6/12/20

June 12th, 2020 at 07:38 pm

DH had some overtime on this paycheck so we had $361.93 extra in take home pay. Part of that went to keep the tithe at 10% and the rest to the medical fund since it is getting quite low. We have hit the out of pocket max now, though, so it is just a question of building it back up again. There was about $127 left in checking, just some carry over which will stay in there for next payday.

$354.86 Tithe
_500.00 Utilities
_400.00 Grocery Envelope
_300.00 Medical Fund
__75.00 Household Fund
_280.00 Chiropractor Family Plan
_115.17 Internet
__36.00 Garbage
_100.00 Car Maintenance Envelope
_100.00 Gas Money
_100.00 Spending Money Adults
_120.00 Allowances Kids
1000.00 Monster Mom Loan
-------------
3481.03 Total Money Out

Posted in Spending Journal, Paying the Bills, Monster Mom Loan, Organize My Life, Medical Issues and Spending, Is Budget a Four Letter Word?, Gazelles in Envelopes | 0 Comments »

Van is Back and Planting Potatoes

June 12th, 2020 at 05:21 am

The van work cost $987.33. Ouch. But the guy said there is nothing else wrong with it and that the tires were in excellent shape. They rotated them, changed the oil, changed the filters, replaced the brakes, flushed the lines, and washed the vehicle. I forgot it was supposed to be salsa red and not pollen yellow! This is the most expensive service we've had to date, which is not bad for a nine year old vehicle with less than 50,000 miles on it.

I think I am going to up my car maintenance fund to $100 a month instead of $50, though. At least until it hits $1000, then stop. While I don't think anything else that is big is going to come along, I'd like to be ready for it if it does. We were only half ready this time and I had to rob other funds.

We planted more potatoes in the garden tonight. We got in 3 rows of Yukon gold potatoes and two rows of Russets. Tomorrow we will try to get in 3 more rows of red potatoes. I may have a bit more seed potatoes than that, but will run out of prepared garden area. I might plant the rest in containers if there is any. Or garbage bags.

You can grow potatoes in garbage bags and then unfold and fill them as the plant grows. I've never done it before, but I've seen it done on youtube and it seems to work. I'd just have to figure out where to put them. Maybe the other side of the house in the narrow strip. We've grown potatoes in the ground over there so it does get enough light for that. We'll see.

Posted in Gardening Organically, Spending Journal, Vehicle Expenses | 1 Comments »

Getting Stuff Done

June 5th, 2020 at 10:32 pm

0Yesterday we managed to get 20 feet by 3 feet of flowerbeds weeded. Part of this was done the day before in that it was when two of the lilac bushes were dug out. Yesterday was going down about a foot and making sure all the bulbs my mother hates got out. I have to say it was a generously bulbing plant. I thought they were pretty, but I did not like how they draped themselves over the sidewalk. They had fronds with sharp edges that could cut your leg if you were wearing shorts. We sifted all of the soil to get out the lumps and clumps and rocks, and we added some better soil from one of the raised beds we are taking down. The soil there is mostly clay so anything improves it. Then we planted it with wave petunias. It looks pretty good now, but when they spread out it will be spectacular. I love wave petunias. I got magenta, pink, hot pink, dark purple, purple black, white, and magenta with white stripes. I also made a hanging basket with 2 leftover dark purple and two purple black petunias. While I love the big spectacular baskets the nurseries make, I can't afford a $40 to $50 basket. Well, I can. I just won't. DH and DS are going to go prawning on Saturday, so we won't get as much done in the garden, but the payoff could be 160 spot prawns. We bought two fishing and shellfish licenses for them yesterday. It cost $128. I have to call fish and wildlife licensing to figure out what is wrong with my account. They think when it was moved from the old system into the new one someone made a typo, because something is not matching, but the licensing place can't fix it. Hopefully someone there can. They tried running it under my maiden name in case that was the problem, but it wasn't. I didn't think so, as I was pretty sure the last time I had a license was after we were married. I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip anyway unless DS stayed home, but even then not on a Saturday as DD has physical therapy every Saturday this month. Someone has to be home to drive her there and since DS still does not have a license, it can't be him. But they sometimes go out on Sundays or Fridays or Mondays so I will get to go out, assuming whatever needs to gets sorted with the license. We did get boards laid down over the area of weeds we want to kill. It takes about 3 weeks. We used boards taken off the old raised beds. There are some cracks that will have to be covered or it won't kill the weeds in that area. I think we should just rent a sod cutter, but if we don't get around to that, this will work. It just takes a lot longer. I want to get at least one more raised bed built, but that involves getting the last of the turkey coop torn down and then the old roof taken apart for building materials. We might get the coop done and the roof taken apart, but I doubt we will get anything built on Sunday. There is not a ton more I can do until DH takes the pickup full of weeds to the dump or builds a new raised bed. I guess I could put down a tarp to put more on, but that is twice the work. I guess I could work on the kitchen, though. I just prefer out door work, but all of the cabinets need to be wiped down and out, the counter tops could use a deep clean and the floor really needs a good scrubbing. Or mopping. I can't get down and scrub anymore. I'd also like to totally reorganize the pantry, but that requires a trip to Lowe's and the lines there have been ridiculous since the lockdown. Oh, we are officially in phase 2. And that does mean salons, so once they get going again I can finally get these split ends dealt with. I think I might splurge and get my hair colored, too. I haven't done that in a long time, but I am tired of the silver streaks. I could color it myself, but that is really hard on my shoulders and I have been abusing them with all the shoveling as it is. And also, I want to support the poor hair dressers who have been out of work for ages. I plan on a large tip unless they screw up something like dying my hair bright pink instead of auburn brown. I usually give a good tip of 20% because they always do such a good job there, but want to do 25% this time. Which will be pricey, but we've had an income this whole time and they have not. It's not like I've been using my spending money on anything for months. Well, I called the state fishing license place and what I need to do is bring my social security card into the local license place between 8:30 and 4:30 of a Monday through Friday and have them call the state place. There is a digit off so I have to have physical proof. And I lost my social security card a few years ago. I didn't need it for being self-employed and I had it memorized so I never bothered to replace it. I know it is in the house, but it has never shown up. So I went online and ordered a new one. It will take 7 to 10 business days to arrive, so I guess I can't go fishing until then. Ah, well. We have all summer. asdf123

Yesterday we managed to get 20 feet by 3 feet of flowerbeds weeded. Part of this was done the day before in that it was when two of the lilac bushes were dug out. Yesterday was going down about a foot and making sure all the bulbs my mother hates got out. I have to say it was a generously bulbing plant. I thought they were pretty, but I did not like how they draped themselves over the sidewalk. They had fronds with sharp edges that could cut your leg if you were wearing shorts.

We sifted all of the soil to get out the lumps and clumps and rocks, and we added some better soil from one of the raised beds we are taking down. The soil there is mostly clay so anything improves it. Then we planted it with wave petunias. It looks pretty good now, but when they spread out it will be spectacular. I love wave petunias. I got magenta, pink, hot pink, dark purple, purple black, white, and magenta with white stripes.

I also made a hanging basket with 2 leftover dark purple and two purple black petunias. While I love the big spectacular baskets the nurseries make, I can't afford a $40 to $50 basket. Well, I can. I just won't.

DH and DS are going to go prawning on Saturday, so we won't get as much done in the garden, but the payoff could be 160 spot prawns. We bought two fishing and shellfish licenses for them yesterday. It cost $128. I have to call fish and wildlife licensing to figure out what is wrong with my account. They think when it was moved from the old system into the new one someone made a typo, because something is not matching, but the licensing place can't fix it. Hopefully someone there can. They tried running it under my maiden name in case that was the problem, but it wasn't. I didn't think so, as I was pretty sure the last time I had a license was after we were married.

I wouldn't have been able to go on this trip anyway unless DS stayed home, but even then not on a Saturday as DD has physical therapy every Saturday this month. Someone has to be home to drive her there and since DS still does not have a license, it can't be him. But they sometimes go out on Sundays or Fridays or Mondays so I will get to go out, assuming whatever needs to gets sorted with the license.

We did get boards laid down over the area of weeds we want to kill. It takes about 3 weeks. We used boards taken off the old raised beds. There are some cracks that will have to be covered or it won't kill the weeds in that area. I think we should just rent a sod cutter, but if we don't get around to that, this will work. It just takes a lot longer. I want to get at least one more raised bed built, but that involves getting the last of the turkey coop torn down and then the old roof taken apart for building materials. We might get the coop done and the roof taken apart, but I doubt we will get anything built on Sunday.

There is not a ton more I can do until DH takes the pickup full of weeds to the dump or builds a new raised bed. I guess I could put down a tarp to put more on, but that is twice the work. I guess I could work on the kitchen, though. I just prefer out door work, but all of the cabinets need to be wiped down and out, the counter tops could use a deep clean and the floor really needs a good scrubbing. Or mopping. I can't get down and scrub anymore. I'd also like to totally reorganize the pantry, but that requires a trip to Lowe's and the lines there have been ridiculous since the lockdown.

Oh, we are officially in phase 2. And that does mean salons, so once they get going again I can finally get these split ends dealt with. I think I might splurge and get my hair colored, too. I haven't done that in a long time, but I am tired of the silver streaks.

I could color it myself, but that is really hard on my shoulders and I have been abusing them with all the shoveling as it is. And also, I want to support the poor hair dressers who have been out of work for ages. I plan on a large tip unless they screw up something like dying my hair bright pink instead of auburn brown. I usually give a good tip of 20% because they always do such a good job there, but want to do 25% this time. Which will be pricey, but we've had an income this whole time and they have not. It's not like I've been using my spending money on anything for months.

Well, I called the state fishing license place and what I need to do is bring my social security card into the local license place between 8:30 and 4:30 of a Monday through Friday and have them call the state place. There is a digit off so I have to have physical proof. And I lost my social security card a few years ago. I didn't need it for being self-employed and I had it memorized so I never bothered to replace it. I know it is in the house, but it has never shown up. So I went online and ordered a new one. It will take 7 to 10 business days to arrive, so I guess I can't go fishing until then. Ah, well. We have all summer.

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